Australia’s Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombud is calling on the federal government to ‘reactivate’ temporary insolvency protections that will help cushion small and family businesses during public health ordered lockdowns, the Mandarin reported. The number of businesses going into administration increased by 75% in the last week of June 2021, according to new data released by CreditorWatch.

Singapore Airlines faces an uneven road to recovery as the more contagious delta variant of the new coronavirus and a persisting pandemic threaten to upend the resumption of mass travel worldwide, Nikkei Asia reported. The Singapore Exchange-listed company on Thursday reported a net loss of 409 million Singapore dollars ($302 million) for the April to June quarter -- the first in its new financial year, after racking up an annual net loss of SG$4.27 billion the year before.

China moved to ease investor concerns about crackdowns on listed companies, with a top regulator privately telling global financial firms that Beijing will consider the market impact before introducing future policies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, spoke to representatives of global banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS 0.89% and UBS Group AG, as well as some investment firms on Wednesday evening, according to the people.

An Indian bankruptcy court has to decide on a Rs 10,000-crore question in the case of Reliance Communications Ltd. The decision will have a bearing on the single most important asset of the telecom service provider—its telecom licence, Bloomberg News reported. RCom is under insolvency proceedings before the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal and has been under moratorium since May 15, 2018. The company has spent over Rs 10,000 crore to acquire spectrum, Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam informed the tribunal.

The Hong Kong government will investigate the publisher of the now defunct Apple Daily for fraud, in the latest setback for the company after being forced to shut down the pro-democracy local newspaper last month, Nikkei Asia reported. The territory's financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a hastily called new conference on Wednesday evening he had appointed a special inspector to investigate Hong Kong-listed Next Digital. Apple Daily published its final issue on June 24, after its assets were frozen by the government.

The government’s move to amend the insolvency law to allow pre-packaged insolvency resolution plans for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) with defaults of not more than ₹1 crore is welcome, according to a commentary in the Economic Times of India. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021, that seeks to replace an Ordinance, will enable the creditor and the debtor to informally work on a rehabilitation plan (instead of financial bidding) without a bankruptcy court’s involvement.

China's move to ban private tutoring firms from making a profit from teaching core school subjects and raising capital is set to trigger a scramble among venture and private equity investors to find an exit after pouring billions of dollars into the sector, Reuters reported. While stricter regulations were expected with China looking to ease pressure on children and the cost burden on parents that has contributed to lower birth rates, private equity industry sources say that they were surprised by the severity of the rules that could kill many companies and block their exits.

The government on Monday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the insolvency law and provide for a pre-packaged resolution process for stressed MSMEs, the Economic Times of India reported. The proposed amendments would enable the government to notify the threshold of a default not exceeding Rs 1 crore for initiation of pre-packaged resolution process. The government has already prescribed the threshold of Rs 10 lakh for this purpose.

A British court on Monday granted a bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya, paving the way for a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to pursue a worldwide freezing order to seek repayment of debt owed by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, the Financial Express reported. “As at 15.42 [UK time], I shall adjudicate Dr Mallya bankrupt,” Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs said in his ruling during a virtual hearing of the Chancery Division of the High Court.